LOTTIE STEPHENS

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Breathing Underwater: A Poetry Anthology (2025)

Icarus

We see another side of ourselves

always

It’s there if we choose to ignore it or not

An unnoticed companion?

Or perhaps more of a hassle

Something we’re ashamed of

The light can morph it into

smaller spaces

cast it across the sky

But without it

we wouldn’t rise to the surface

I’m grateful for them,

the lesser known version of myself

a balance between,

a limbo.

They paint blue grey on the cream coloured houses

in the morning light

They carve dimples into cheeks and curves into collar bones

Defining what is with asking for nothing in return.

Maybe yours overpowered too much.

It sank you

lower

You could no longer tread the current

and couldn’t see they weren’t your enemy

but there instead to settle you

so you wouldn’t fly to close to the sun.

That’s why I don’t fear them anymore.

These things take time.